Middle School Ficlets
by Aquafuego
Summary: A middle school AU with all of the main characters of the mother series. It's heavily based off the Magicant Chatroom series on YouTube, so I recommend everyone to watch it. Each chapter is a story in itself, but they all relate to each other in a way.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the Mother series. They belong to Nintendo and Shigesato Itoi.**

**~•~•~•~**

The faces seemed to flash by him as he rushed through all the obstacles in the crowded hallway. Ness wondered why they were still standing around and talking; after all, forth period started in nearly a minute! He normally arrived to each of his classes early, but there was an Art Club meeting during break today. The art room was practically on the other side of the planet, he thought.

As soon as he heard the bell make it's irritable screech, Ness was in the doorway of his math class. He and Ninten shared this class and sat 3 seats away. Ness never knew the exact reasons for Ninten taking an honors math class, seeing as school isn't his strong point, but he wasn't going to question it.

"Hey, Ness. Cutting it a bit close there, I see. Did you finally learn to loosen up a bit or what?" Ninten grinned as he poked fun at Ness. Ninten was very aware that Ness probably wouldn't change his uptight attitude about school anytime soon. He couldn't help it, it was just how Ness worked.

"Hah, no. The Art Club meeting ran a little late. It doesn't matter now. I'm here, and I'm on time." Ness sat down and took out his math book and the teacher began the lesson soon afterwords.

"Well, you see the hypotenuse can be found by..." The teacher began. Ness found himself not paying attention; he was thinking about his busy schedule this week. He has a baseball game on Thursday. He had practices on each day of the week. Art Club has a event at the museum on Friday. Green Club is having a school clean up day on Tuesday. He has three tests on Friday, and two projects are due this Wednesday. It felt like he had put too much steak on his plate. Ness thought this was a perfect analogy because he loves steak and also enjoys all of the clubs and teams he is on, but he couldn't handle it all! Oh cra—

Ness was pulled out of his inner monologue by a crumpled-up ball of paper colliding with the back of his head. He looked back and saw Ninten motioning him to uncrumple the paper and read it.

_How did the teacher not see that?_

Turning around and rolling his eyes, Ness straightened out the paper and read Ninten's scrawled handwriting.

_You ok? You look... uh..troubled._

Concerned with not interrupting class to answer, Ness slowly put his right hand in the "thumbs-up" position to answer Ninten. He figures that he received the response since Ninten wasn't paying attention in the first place. It baffled Ness that his friend could tell something was bothering him from behind him, but maybe Ninten was more observant than he lets on.

~•~•~•~

The school day was nearing it's end, and Ness and Lucas were working on a partner activity in biology. They finished quickly because of Lucas's fast writing. They always finished fast whenever they were partners, which is why they always picked each other.

"So, what are you doing this weekend?" Ness questioned his friend.

"Well, I'm not sure," Lucas paused, deep in thought, "It's only Monday. I can't really tell you. The weekend seems just too far away!" Ness nodded in agreement.

"I'm a little overwhelmed this week. I can't wait for the weekend, y'know? There's so many things I have to do this week, and it's just so... Stressful." Ness always had a busy week, but this one in particular had to be one of the more eventful ones.

"Umm... I'm not trying to... make you quit anything...but... Have you ever considered dropping a club? You are always frantically trying to keep up with your activities, and I just think it would be better if you didn't have as much to worry about."

"Well, my mom said that doing extra-curricular activities looks good on college applications."

"College? Ness, I don't think your mom meant 'join every club ever'! Plus, we are in middle school. You know colleges don't really look at much of what you did in middle school."

"You're probably right. I shouldn't worry that much about college anyway, I mean, hey! We aren't anywhere close to college yet. But still... I feel kinda bad for quitting a club." Ness was going to have a hard time picking which one to quit; he already knew. But Lucas was right, overwhelming yourself with activities was not good for anybody. They sat quietly together for a moment while they both pondered over the matter. The final bell chimed right as Ness opened his mouth to speak, and he just politely smiled and said goodbye to Lucas instead of his original thought.

"Baseball practice tonight, and no homework," he recited to himself one last time before exiting the school building.

**~•~•~•~**

**A/N: So this is the first thing I've ever posted on here! I hoped you enjoyed it. I am still not used to how the formatting works on here. I can't figure out how to make break lines. Anyway, I think the next chapter will center around Claus. ALSO, If you seen any grammatical or spelling errors, please notify me! I don't have a beta and I check all my writing myself, so there may be mistakes somewhere. Thank you for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mother series or any of its characters. They belong to Nintendo and Itoi.**

**~•~•~•~**

Fitness Test

Great. It was that time of year again. Claus always hated the fitness test, and this year was no different. What did these tests prove anyway? He wasn't sure. Claus only knew that tomorrow was the day that everyone had to do the mile run which, in his opinion, was the worst of all the tests.

"Nothing says fun quite like running around the football field a billion times," he scoffed to Lucas, who was sitting beside him on the bus.

"Yeah, but we have to do it, so might as well stop complaining and just get it over with. I don't like it either."

"I know. It just seems so pointless though! Why does it matter how long it takes for us to run a mile? Who cares about how many push-ups we can do in a minute? I sure don't."

"Well, regardless of what you think about it, we are all running tomorrow. Ness and I decided that we were going to jog and talk along the way. We are trying to make it as fun as we possibly can," Lucas laughed to himself for a minute, "You know, as fun as you can make running, anyway." Claus found this ridiculous. Wouldn't it just take longer that way? Claus was going to try and get it over with as soon as he could. He'll sprint for as long as he can and won't talk to anyone the entire mile. People always go slower when they are distracted by a conversation.

The bus rolled to a stop, and both of the twins got off at their stop. Claus just knew that tomorrow was going to be a pain in the butt, thanks to gym class.

~•~•~•~

All the boys and girls separated as they went into their respective locker rooms to change out into their gym clothes. They all knew exactly what was in store today, and there was a collected groan when the coach told them to "get dressed". After they had changed out, they headed outside and to the football field, where the school normally made them run the mile. Claus, Lucas, and Ness all started the mile together.

"So how long d'ya think it'll take us?" Ness started up a conversation with the other two boys. Lucas began to answer as Claus just shrugged and sprinted ahead of both of them.

"I thought he was gonna hang out with us the whole way, but whatever."

"He said something about wanting to finish really fast to me yesterday," Lucas informed his friend.

~•~•~•~

Claus felt a little bad for brushing off his friends like that, but he didn't have any bad intentions. He was just ready to be done. He glanced over to the home-side bleachers, where Ninten was sitting and watching. Ninten silently grinned and waved at him. Claus knew he was just trying to annoy him. The lucky punk doesn't even _have to _run the mile because of his asthma! Claus waved back while making an irritated expression, which made Ninten burst into a fit of laughter.

Claus was nearly on his last lap now, and he was really exhausted. Sprinting. Was a terrible. Idea. Ness and Lucas had passed him as he slowed down drastically.

"You okay, Claus?" Ness looked concerned for his friend, who was red in the face.

"I'm good." Claus mentally facepalmed when Ness asked this. Not because of anything Ness said, but because he just reminded him of that old saying: "Slow and steady wins the race." The other two boys were about to be completely done

while he was just about to start his last lap. He was still going to be running when they were allowed to go inside and get water! Claus groaned at the thought. He hated himself sometimes for getting so caught up in trying to get things done.

~•~•~•~

Claus was one of the last people to finish, but he didn't care now. He was just greatly pleased over the fact that he never had to do that again. That is, until next year. Maybe next time, he'll just stick with his friends.

**~•~•~•~**

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I need to get better at ending things. Hopefully, I'll get better as I write more stuff. This chapter was really fun to write because of my own personal hatred for the fitness test. I haven't had to do it in years, though. I have a lot of ideas, and I'm not entirely sure which one I'll write next.**

**It will probably focus more on Lucas or Ninten. Again, if you see any mistakes, give me a heads up! Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

** Disclaimer: Pokemon, Gameboys, and the Mother series do not belong to me. They belong to Nintendo.**

**~•~•~•~**

Ah, Thursday. The day nobody likes because it's not Friday. Ninten was supposed to be his doing his English homework but instead was playing Pokemon. He was trying to level up his Pupitar so it would evolve into a Tyranitar. He had just defeated a wild Fearow when his mother knocked on his door and popped her head in. Ninten frantically threw his game under his pillow; he had told his mom that he was studying. She ignored the cheery Pokemon music emitting from the pillow and directed a question toward her son.

"Ninten, you do remember that I am heading up to your dad's work this weekend since it's our anniversary, and he can't get any hours off?"

"Yeah," he smirked. Mom being gone meant _he_ was in charge of his two little sisters. Or, at least, he was pretty sure that's what it meant.

"I am going to have a babysitter here to watch you three." Ninten was shocked at this.

"What! Mom, I don't need a babysitter! I can watch Minnie and Mimmie, no problem!"

"No, no, Ninten. I just don't feel comfortable leaving you three here by yourselves. I'm worried that you aren't mature enough to keep everything running the whole weekend."

"But–"

"Anyway, I was speaking to Hinawa earlier—you know, Lucas and Claus's mother—and she agreed that Lucas would be perfect for babysitting you three. So, Lucas is coming over tomorrow and staying the whole weekend."

"Sweet—WAIT. Mom! Lucas is around the same age as me! You are getting _him _to babysit?!" How was that fair? Ninten knew he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and his sisters.

"Lucas is a very responsible young man. You could learn something from him, Ninten."

"But c'mon Mom–"

"Sorry, Ninten... Please do your homework. Goodnight." She shut the door and left. Ninten couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lucas was one of his best friends, and he definitely wanted to hang out with him all weekend, but he didn't want Lucas to be_ in charge_ of him.

~•~•~•~

Lucas had rode the bus home with Ninten. It had been a quiet trip, and it scared Lucas a little. Was Ninten mad at him? Lucas couldn't help that his mom was always trying to get him to "try new things". Hinawa had been the one to persuade Ninten's mom into this whole ordeal.

When they arrived at the house, Ninten silently crept into his room. Lucas chose to not worry about it for a little while.

"Does your mom usually make you guys snacks when you get home?" He asked Minnie and Mimmie, who were both sitting by the television, deciding on what to watch.

"Yeah! She usually makes us peanut butter crackers!" Minnie exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Alright, I can make some if you guys want."

"Yes, please!" Both girls chanted. Lucas went to the kitchen and got out some crackers and peanut butter. He was kind of hungry himself; he planned on making extra. He didn't mind making food for people since he enjoyed cooking.

_If you count putting peanut butter on crackers as cooking, _Lucas laughed to himself_._

"Here you go," he handed each of the girls a plate with several crackers on it. He sat down and watched tv with them for a while. This weekend wasn't going to be too bad.

~•~•~•~

"This show stinks!" Mimmie snatched the remote and changed the channel. Minnie turned to her with an angry expression.

"Hey, I was watchin' that!"

"Well, it was a loser show. For loOoOOsers." Minnie tackled her after she said that. The girls began wrestling over the remote when Lucas stepped in.

"Hey, stop... Stop fighting! Don't you guys have homework to do anyway? Why are you watching tv?"

"Nobody has homework on the weekends, silly." Ha! Lucas wished that were true. Once you get into higher grade levels, teachers start forgetting the sanctity of Friday.

"It's almost dinner time, so instead of fighting... Um... Why don't you decide on what I should make for dinner?"

"Yay!" Lucas smiled at the two as they began chattering about their favorite meals. He wondered if Ninten was hungry. He hadn't seen him since the bus ride home. Lucas decided to go check on him.

**~•~•~•~**

**I decided to cut this one a little short and divide it into two chapters because it was starting to run a bit long. ALSO I would like to thank you for all the positive reviews! To be honest, I haven't been having the best week, and your friendly comments have really cheered me up throughout the week! Thank you so much! The next half will probably be ready by tomorrow. **


	4. Chapter 3-2

**Disclaimer: I don't own any product/character/movie/game/etc in this story. Those were created by Nintendo, Disney, and etc. **

**~•~•~•~**

Part 2 (continued from previous chapter)

Lucas approached Ninten's bedroom door and lightly knocked two times. There was no answer so Lucas assumed that the other boy was asleep. He quietly opened the door only to see that Ninten wasn't even _in_ the room. The window was wide open, and there was a rope that lead straight out the window tied to one of the bed posts.

_He seriously didn't climb out the window, did he?_

Lucas maneuvered through Ninten's cluttered room and looked out the window. Ninten was out skateboarding on the driveway; he seemed to be extremely spaced out. Lucas thought this because the facial expression he was making.

"Hey, Ninten!"

"CRUD—" Lucas's shout startled Ninten. The skateboard rolled out from under him, and he fell onto the concrete.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Lucas didn't think _that_ was going to happen. He climbed out the window from the rope and rushed over to Ninten.

"Dude, chill. I'm fine." Ninten stood up, grabbed his skateboard, and leaned on it.

"Uh... Sorry Ninten. I didn't mean to scare you... You're not mad at me, are you?"

"For that? No way. In fact, I'm not mad at _you_ at all." His emphasis on the word 'you' worried Lucas.

"Are you mad about the whole babysitting thing?" Ninten grumbled at the question and started to ride his skateboard again. Lucas was almost sure that Ninten was ignoring him until he saw the other boy's expression when he turned around on the skateboard. He looked furious. Oh no.

"My mom treats me like I'm five! It's so not fair! Like, I'm just as capable as you! I can watch my sisters for a weekend... It just makes me so mad," Ninten paused for a second as he thought of another point in his argument, "Imagine if people at school knew that I had to have a babysitter! Imagine if they knew I had to have a babysitter who was in the same grade as me... I'd be the laughing stock of the entire campus..." His voice got lower and more quiet as the rant went on. Lucas was positive that Ninten could continue this for the entire weekend if he really felt like it.

"Ninten," Lucas attempted to get him to pay attention, "Ninten! Please... Calm down." Ninten froze mid sentence and looked right Lucas directly in the eye. His deadpan, emotionless expression intimidated Lucas, but he kept going.

"Ninten, I completely understand why you are upset, but you shouldn't be mad at your mom. Parents do that sort of thing a lot—y'know, treating you like you are a little kid. My parents do it to me sometimes. It's because they are worried about you. It's just a grown-up thing, I guess."

"Still..." Ninten felt like Lucas knew what he was talking about, but he was too stubborn and determined to let this go that easy.

"My mom always said to appreciate the people you have in your life today because they might not be there the next day. So.. um... yeah." Lucas felt like he just said something extremely eloquent, but unfortunately, he wasn't exactly sure on how to rap up his thoughts. Maybe Ninten wouldn't notice.

"Well..." The boy on the skateboard sighed, "I guess you're... I guess you're right." He looked defeated for a split second, but his attitude completely altered right afterwards. He looked back up at Lucas with a curious and dopey expression.

"Dude, I'm starving! What's for dinner?"

"Well, your sisters are deciding on what they want right now, I think."

"Can dinner be prime ribs?"

"I don't think there's any in the house to make." They both went inside (using the front door this time) while talking about dinner. Mimmie and Minnie were sitting at the dining table and were still discussing the food plan.

"Pancakes!" Mimmie blurted out.

"You can't have pancakes for dinner! That's like, against the rulebook of eating," Ninten intruded the girls' conversation.

"Well, you're a butthead!" The two girls high-fived after Minnie said this. Lucas didn't really get why they did this, but then again, he and _his_ twin did things that other people didn't quite understand either. Ninten didn't care about his sister's name-calling; he was too hungry to even argue with them at this point.

"Let's just order Chinese or something," Ninten shrugged. The girls seemed to think this was a good idea, too.

_Finally, we can agree on something, _Lucas thought. He grabbed the phone and the money that Ninten's mother had left for them. Then, he realized how nervous he was about calling the restaurant. He didn't like ordering things on the phone. What if he messes up the order? What if he dials the wrong number?

"Yo," Ninten noticed his friend's anxiousness, "I'll call them. I already know what I want AND what Mimmie and Minnie want. It's easier that way. What do you want?" He began dialing the number. Lucas smiled in appreciation of his friend, and then told him what he wanted to eat.

After they ate, they all watched a movie together. They fought over the movie also and eventually played Rock Paper Scissors to decide on who was going to pick the movie. Mimmie won, and she picked Cinderella. Ninten made upset whale noises throughout the entire movie, which got him pelted with popcorn by his two younger sisters. By the end of the movie, everyone had fallen asleep on the couch or the floor, depending on where they decided to watch the movie.

The rest of the weekend went on like this, with random sibling squabbles over pointless things, but overall, it went by pretty smoothly. When Ninten's mother had returned, the house was as clean as she had left it, which made her very happy. She was almost positive they'd ransack the place. Lucas left soon after she had arrived; he was very tired and had homework to do.

Ninten held his Gameboy above his head; he was laying on his bed playing Pokemon again. His mom walked by the door as she was putting her clothes into the washer and heard a distinct "Yes, finally! He finally evolved!" and she smiled.

**~•~•~•~**

**A/N: I meant to upload this earlier, but I had some slight complications. Anyway, thank you for reading. Also, this came up when I was writing this... In this AU, should they have their psychic abilities? I have been arguing with myself over this. What do you guys think? **


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of this story. The belong to Itoi and Nintendo. Also, I don't own Galaga. That belongs to Namco.**

**~•~•~•~**

"No, you can't have any money for the arcade, Ness."

"But mom–"

"No buts! We are still in huge debt to Pokey's family, and we can't afford to waste our money like that."

"Dad gives me money all the time!"

"Your dad isn't the wisest person financially," Ness's mom sighed. Sometimes she felt like she had to watch over her husband as if she had another child. She knew that her husband just really didn't want to disappoint Ness and felt bad about never being home to see either of his kids.

"Fine," Ness huffed, "Can I still _go_ to the arcade? All of my friends are gonna be there..." The arcade was a popular hangout for the local kids, and they often met up on the weekends to compete with each other's scores.

"Sure. Just be careful, okay?" Ness hopped up excitedly and ran to grab his bag. Even if he couldn't play any of the games at the arcade, at least he could still hang out with his friends.

~•~•~•~

He walked in the double doors of the arcade and saw Claus, Lucas, Paula, and Jeff sitting at one of the tables. He greeted them, set his belongings down, and sat in the chair beside Jeff.

"What's up, guys? Why aren't you playing anything?" His friends looked bothered and bored out of their minds.

Paula spoke up, "Half of the games are out of order–"

"And the ones that are still working suck!" Claus piped in.

"Oh. How did that happen?" Usually the arcade was pretty good at keeping their games operational. The only time he had ever seen a game malfunction was when Poo had tried to play one. Ness still doesn't know how he managed to screw the game up so badly.

"Some jerks came in last night and trashed the games!" Claus was very upset about this. He had saved up quite a lot of money so he could beat Paula's high score in Galaga.

"Some of the kids we ran into said it was the Sharks," Lucas added. The Sharks were a gang infamous for targeting businesses around town. They commonly stole things, raided areas, and put graffiti on buildings and signs. Ness knew a lot about them, and he didn't like them. What were their motives anyway? To ruin people's fun?

"Great... So what's the plan?"

Jeff, who was being awfully quiet until this point, replied, "Well, I could try to fix some of the 'fun' games while you guys could try out some of the other games..." Jeff didn't know why he let Paula drag him here. He didn't really like the arcade; it was usually too loud for his liking. It's too chaotic for him.

"I don't want to play the stinkin' loser games!"

"Claus, c'mon! Let's just try them out," Lucas grabbed his brother's arm and led him to one of the machines. Paula followed the brothers after telling Jeff 'good luck'.

"You really don't want to play anything, Jeff? You think they'll let you try and fix the games?" Ness questioned his friend.

"...Not really. I don't like arcades... And about the games... I think they'll let me work on them. They seem to be busy trying to make them operational, too." Ness nodded in understanding. He sat there watching Jeff gather tools for a while and then grabbed his Yo-yo out of his backpack. Jeff looked puzzled when he saw Ness do this.

"What about you, Ness? I was sure that you liked playing arcade games."

"I don't have any money." Jeff looked even more surprised at this.

"The kid with the bottomless wallet is out of money? Wow, I never thought I'd hear you say that..." Jeff noticed that Ness looked uncomfortable after he made that last comment.

"...O-oh man! I didn't mean to upset you... Um... Uh... Look, I'm really sorry, Ness! Please don't be upset!" Ness laughed for a second; he almost forgot about how Jeff was like.

"Don't worry, you're fine Jeff! My family's just been in a low point recently when it comes to money. It's no big deal." Ness wasn't actually sure about how tight their money was at the moment; he was just trying to cheer Jeff up. Sometimes Jeff just doesn't realize what he's saying could come off as mean.

Jeff apologized to Ness again and went to work. He was positive he could get at least one of the games running before the end of the day.

Ness met up with his other 3 friends, who were taking turns playing one of the games. From Ness's standpoint, it didn't look like that bad of a game. Each player had only one button, and the object of the game was to jump over the fireballs while standing in one place. Whoever lasted the longest won the game, and the score was determined by how long you lasted. Paula and Lucas were playing against each other.

"I play the winner, okay?" Claus was nudging Paula's arm, attempting to mess her up. Regardless, Lucas wasn't the most talented when it came to any type of video game, and Paula won.

"Claus, why don't you let Ness have a turn?" Paula wanted everyone to be able to play; she hated leaving out any of her friends.

Ness politely refused. He told them that he didn't feel like playing and that he'd rather watch. Claus shrugged and put a token in the machine.

"I'm gonna beat you this time, Paula!"

"Ha, no way! I've beat you like 5 times already!" They both aggressively pressed their button each time a fireball came around.

"I can see why nobody really plays this game," Lucas said to Ness, "You don't do anything other than jump in one spot." Ness agreed, but at least everyone was having fun for now.

~•~•~•~

After watching his friends switch between 3 different games all day, Jeff finally felt like he had fixed the Galaga machine. He started on this one because of Claus, who mentioned it at the table before Ness had arrived. Jeff wasn't sure if it was going to work, and he was nervous about it. He didn't want to let his friends down. He stood up, located the power switch, and flipped it to the "on" position. It made a whirring sound. Then it stopped making any sounds at all. Jeff knew he had failed. It was nearly time to head home so there wasn't much time left to work on it. Jeff felt like such a disappointment. He managed to upset Ness today, AND he couldn't fix one lousy game! Ness glanced at his friend. He looked sad, but Ness wasn't sure why.

"Hey, Jeff! You got Galaga working again! That's awesome!" This confused Jeff for a minute, but then he walked around to the front of the machine and saw the familiar logo shining across the screen. He grinned widely, amazed at his success.

Lucas congratulated Jeff while Paula and Claus ran up to the game and shoved their tokens into the machine.

"I'm gonna crush your high score Paula!"

"I'd like to see you try, Claus!"

Lucas, Ness, and even Jeff circled around to watch the other two. Claus and Paula made bets and argued and tried to mess each other up. In the end, Claus lost and has to call Paula "O Great Queen of the Arcade" for two weeks. All of the kids couldn't wait till the next time they had a free day to visit the arcade. Hopefully, by the next time they visit, ALL of the games will be functional.

**~•~•~•~**

**A/N: To be honest, I have no idea where that idea came from. I think I just wanted to have something about the arcade in here somewhere. Um. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They belong to Nintendo and Itoi.**

**~•~•~•~**

A chilly Monday arrived after the adventure at the arcade. It was break time at school; this is when everyone stood outside for fifteen minutes while eating a snack (if they brought one). Paula and Ana were standing together, shivering. It was not a good day for people who liked to wear dresses.

"S-so you really are making Claus call you that?"

"Of c-course I am, Ana! Why would I waste such a perfect opportunity?"

"It's a little mean..." Ana was a very kind girl by nature. She didn't always understand Paula's logic, but she appreciated her friend's style.

Changing the subject, Paula exclaimed, "Why did I wear a dress today?! It's s-so cold!"

"I agree Paula. I shouldn't have worn a dress either... Well I guess I still could, but I need to buy something warm to cover up my legs..."

"Same here!" At this moment, a tall, dark-haired boy approached the two girls. He looked fairly older than them, and Paula thought he looked suspicious.

"Hey there," His voice sounded kind, but Paula was still not convinced, "my friend over there thinks you're cute," he pointed a finger at Ana. Ana blushed at this.

"R-really? Well, I am very sorry to say this, but I'm not interested in your friend." Ana smiled sweetly. Paula groaned. Her friend was actually taking this seriously. The older boy laughed at Ana's response and repeated her in a mocking tone, then walked away as he rejoined his friends, who were also guffawing loudly.

"What was that all about?" Ana asked Paula, who seemed to be enraged.

"They... They were picking on you, Ana! Why didn't you do anything about it?"

"Oh," she glanced over at the boys, "I had no idea he was being rude. Why did he do that?"

"Probably some lame dare... I'm not sure. They're just a bunch of low-life toads..." Paula was very bothered by the guys. How dare they pick on HER friend!

"Well, it didn't hurt my feelings, so I think I will just let it go..." Paula wasn't satisfied with this answer.

"It might not bother YOU, Ana, but if we don't do anything about it, what's gonna stop them from picking on some other girl in the same way?" Ana thought this over. She did have a valid point, but Ana didn't know how to respond, so she remained silent.

"Whether or not you do anything about it, I'm gonna go say something to those jerks." Paula marched right up to the dark-haired kid that had talked to them and began to reprimand him.

"You think it's funny to just walk up to a girl and do that?! What if they liked you, and you just didn't know about it? You could really hurt someone's feelings, and it takes some grade-A scum to—" a loud bell pierced through her yelling. The boys involved took this opportunity to escape from Paula.

Ana had just watched her friend explode at those kids for her. She really respected Paula for always being the one to stand up for other people, even when they didn't want to stand up for themselves. Ana didn't think she herself could be like that; she wasn't as brave or daring as her friend.

Ana and Paula walked back to class together, both still cold from the sudden temperature change that the area had been subjected to since the weekend. Paula, however, was slightly warmer, not because of a more insulated clothing choice, but because of her fuming rage over those immature dudes. She wasn't going to let this go just yet...

~•~•~•~

Two days later, Paula and the boy from the incident on Monday had crossed paths again. At first, he didn't notice or recognize her from the crowd headed to lunch. But she recognized him. She yanked him out of the moving crowd by his shirt sleeve and pulled him down to where they were at eye-level.

"Don't. Ever. Bully or pick on anyone. Again. Got it?" She kneed him in the groin to get her message across (surprised that no teachers saw that) and then skipped back up to where Ness was in the lunch line.

The boy never messed with anybody again after that.

**~•~•~•~**

**A/N: I've always liked the idea of Paula looking really innocent but totally being super hardcore... Anyway, this story was based off of something that happened to me today. Also, some important announcements regarding this story: I've decided to not have their psychic abilities in this story for the sake of making things more difficult for the characters and to create more plot points. That will probably make sense later, I'm sure. Anyway, if you are disappointed in this, DON'T WORRY because I've got an idea for a story (completely unrelated to this AU) that has a lot to do with the psychic abilities they possess. Thank you for reading!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to Itoi and Nintendo. **

**A/N: Sorry about the complications earlier. I don't know what happened.**

**~•~•~•~**

People of all ages were merrily skating on the cold ice below their skates. It was a busy day for the ice skating rink. The air was dry and chilly, which Ninten already found to be very annoying. Ana had invited him to go ice skating, and he couldn't refuse. So here he was out in the cold.

Ana's attire was much different than Ninten's. She was wearing her regular outfit with the addition of some gloves and warm socks. She was used to this type of climate. Ninten, however, was not. He was thoroughly bundled up with multiple layers of clothing and a warm scarf to cover his nose and mouth.

They were both sitting together on a bench, changing from their regular shoes to ice skates. Ninten had never ice skates before, and he was excited and nervous all at the same time. Ana promised to help him and teach him how to skate; she was nearly an expert, so he wasn't going to let his uneasiness stop him.

"Are you ready?" She questioned him. He nodded, and she guided him onto the rink. He stumbled a little, but she grabbed his arms to keep him from falling.

"You're really good at this, Ana,"

"Well, I've skated for a long time, so I'd hope so," They stopped near one of the walls that were put up around the rink. Ninten leaned against the wall for support.

"Do you mind if I go around the rink a couple times?" Ana wanted to make sure her friend was comfortable with being by himself out here.

"Yeah, go ahead! I'm gonna try and get used to these skates." After hearing this, Ana smiled and skated away. Ninten was amazed at her skills; she could do all sorts of tricks on the ice.

When she returned, Ana began teaching Ninten about the different things she knew about skating. After a few brief tutorials, she grabbed his arm again and guided him as he tried to maneuver on the ice. Ninten nearly fell a few times, but he progressively got better.

"Are you ready to try and skate by yourself?" Ninten was conflicted. He really wasn't comfortable with ice skating, and he was beginning to question if he would ever be. Yet, he was starting to feel like a burden on Ana. She was too nice to admit it, but he could tell by the look on her face that she was getting bored. After all, holding up someone while they failed at skating didn't sound like fun, and it was evident that it wasn't.

"Uh," Ninten took a moment to decide, "I guess I can try,"

"You can do it, I'm positive,"

"Okay…" Ana let go of his arms, and he started on his way. He thought that he wasn't doing half bad. His knees felt like they were attempting to buckle and make him collapse, but he was doing fine. Ana zipped by, turned around, and then slowed down to skate beside him.

"You're doing great!"

"Really? I'm going a lot slower than everyone else here,"

"That's fine, I was slow at first too. You'll get better! You've improved a lot faster than I did." Right then, a group of young kids whirred by the two, nearly knocking Ninten off his feet.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, brats!" Ninten shouted as he restablized himself.

"That's unusual… People are normally very kind here. Even the small children…" Ana practiced here all throughout her life, and she never recalled any behavior problems.

"Well, somethin' is up, then," Ninten steered toward one of the walls, and stopped at it. Ana decided to find out what was going on; she took off to ask some of the older skaters.

As Ninten waited for her to come back, he glared at the group of hooligans.

Ana returned after a couple minutes. She explained that one of the local skate parks,where these kids usually skated, had been apparently closed. This forced them all to come here.

"We'll just have to ignore them, I suppose…" Ana finished her explanation. Ninten shrugged; there wasn't much they could do about that. She insisted that they both continue skating, and so they did.

~•~•~•~

Ninten still struggled to keep both feet steady, but Ana encouraged him to keep trying. They laughed when Ninten had fallen a few times, after knowing he was okay. The whole day had continued joyfully… Right until…

"Hey, you! Still havin' problems there, huh?" One of the younger boys from earlier that day approached them.

"He's doing fine!" Ana spoke up.

"Oh yeah? Bet he can't handle… this!" The kid rammed into Ninten from the side and sped past the two. Ninten was completely knocked off his feet by the blow and was currently curled up on the ground. Ana stopped next to him.

"Ninten, oh my gosh! Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine, yeah-" Ninten replied in a wobbly voice, still lying on the ground.

"Is your ankle hurt?" She noticed he was clutching his ankle as if he were in extreme pain.

"I–" He didn't want to seem like a baby in front of his friend, but he couldn't take it anymore, "Crud… my ankle. I don't feel good…"

"Ninten…?" Ana's heart was beginning to pound at an alarming rate. Ninten stopped responding to her questions. She couldn't get him out of here. She wasn't strong enough to carry him out. What could she do?

~•~•~•~

A young couple was enjoying their date night at the ice skating rink. They both were pretty athletic, and enjoyed skating—both on ice and not. Earlier that day, a blonde-haired girl came up and asked them a question about the gang of small boys causing havoc. They didn't have an answer for her, and she thanked them and went on her way. They spotted her again, but this time she was standing over a boy—presumably her age—lying crumpled on the ground. They approached the girl again; she was sweet enough, and she looked distraught.

"Is your friend okay, dear?" The woman asked.

"N-no… I th-think he passed out." Ana was in tears.

The man kneeled down and inspected the boy, checking for injuries.

"His ankle's all swollen," He then picked up Ninten, "We need to get him to the hospital. I think he broke his ankle." Ana nodded.

~•~•~•~

The three managed to get Ninten into a hospital to be cared for by a professional. Ana thanked the strangers for their kindness. She couldn't begin to express how grateful she was to them.

~•~•~•~

Ninten woke up in a hospital bed, feeling muddled from pain medicine. His mom was sitting beside him.

"What the heck? Why am I here?"

"You broke your ankle while ice skating. Ana says a kid knocked you down." Ninten looked down at his feet and noticed that his right foot was nearly covered by a cast. His toes stuck out of it, and it went up to about six inches below the knee. He felt embarrassed and enraged. He was pushed over by some little kid!

"Dang it! I'm gonna get that brat, and when I do, I'll—"

"Easy, tiger. You won't be doing much of anything for a while. You need to take it easy on that ankle of yours,"

"_Great_," Ninten sighed in a sarcastic tone. This was going to be a long and bothersome journey; he just knew it.

**~•~•~•~**

**A/N: The struggle I went through to get this one posted. *Sigh* I meant to have this done way before it got done. Funny how that works. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope there's minimal typos. The next chapter should be out by tomorrow. That is, if I can manage to get it written in time. I hope you all are having a good holiday season!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the Mother Trilogy. All of that belongs to Nintendo and Itoi.**

**~•~•~•~**

It was a bright Saturday morning, and Lucas was making breakfast with his mother. They were making omelets, and since it was a family favorite, they made them every Saturday morning. Today was no different. Flint was outside, tending to the livestock. Claus was still asleep; he often didn't get up early on the weekends. Boney was laying on the floor by the stove where Lucas and Hinawa were cooking.

"Do you have anything exciting to do today, sweetie?" Hinawa asked her introverted son.

"Not really... Um. This girl from school named Kathi is coming over to help finish our art project. It's due on Monday." Lucas explained.

"What time is she coming over?"

"Around noon I think,"

"Alright," she was setting the omelet she had just finished onto a plate, "Could you go wake your brother up? I think breakfast is done. Go get your father too, please."

Lucas did as he was told, and they all sat down for breakfast. They chatted about their plans for this weekend. Flint was busy for the most part, and Hinawa had a lot of cleaning planned. Claus needed to clean his room, and Lucas just needed to finish the art project, and if he had time, he wanted to read a little. After they finished eating, Claus was assigned dish washing duty. Everyone fanned out to carry on with the rest of their day, while Claus decided to change out of his pajamas. And then he'd do the dishes.

~•~•~•~

Claus was finishing up cleaning the kitchen—dish duty did include wiping the counters off and sweeping the floors and mopping—when the doorbell rang. He looked around to see if anyone else was going to answer the door, then put the mop in the bucket after realizing that he was the only one who heard it ring. Claus wondered who it could be because Boney was barking at the door, and he only did that when he didn't recognize the person. Claus hushed Boney while making it to the front door.

Claus opened the door and met eyes with a girl who looked about his age. She had dark brown hair that was tied back in pigtails, and she was wearing A LOT of pink. Her shoes, shirt, and skirt were all pink. He'd never met her before, but she seemed familiar. Claus thought that he might have seen her hanging around with Ana and Paula sometimes.

"O-oh! H-hello, Claus! Is... Is Lucas h-here?" Apparently, she knew him. But he sure didn't know her.

"Yeah, he is," he said in an abrupt manner, "How'd you know my name?"

"I've... I've heard a lot about you. S-sorry!" The girl was practically shaking. Claus was about to continue the conversation, but Lucas grabbed his shoulder to announce his presence.

"Hey, Claus. Um. This is Kathi. We have to work on an art project together." Lucas informed his twin.

"Whatever. Just don't make a mess, or mom will kill you." After that, Claus went back to mopping the kitchen floor.

~•~•~•~

Lucas and Kathi were now set up at the dining table, and Claus had retreated back to his bedroom after finishing his chores.

"Sorry about my brother. He can be a bit... Much." Kathi only half-laughed in response as she put her paintbrush back into the red paint.

"He didn't say anything mean did he? Sometimes he just doesn't think things through before he makes decisions,"

Kathi looked up and seemed almost confused.

"Oh, no! He didn't say anything of the sort. I-I just messed up while talking to him. Yeah. That's it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... He didn't know who I was... And I greeted him by saying his name... It was so embarrassing!"

Lucas had no idea what in the world made that embarrassing. Of course she knew who Claus was, even if they hadn't officially met till then. Lucas talked about Claus all the time. Claus was Lucas's best friend and twin.

"Um. What makes that–" Lucas was interrupted by a loud crash in the kitchen.

"OOPS. HEY LUKE, WE GOT ANY JERKY?" Claus yelled.

"Claus! Are you okay? No, we don't have any! Remember? Boney got a hold of the bag on Tuesday, and he ate them all," Lucas went into the kitchen to check on Claus. He was fine, but there was two boxes of cereal on the floor. Kathi followed behind Lucas and quietly listened to the boys' conversation. She decided to speak up at this moment.

"I-I... Don't have any beef jerky. But. I

do have c-chocolate bars in my bag. If you w-want any, that is!"

"Chocolate?! YES. Finally someone around here who has FOOD."

Claus ate a lot for his size. He wasn't tiny or anything, but he was like a bottomless pit when it came to food and candy. Kathi smiled softly, and dug around in her purse. She handed the older twin the chocolate and offered some to Lucas. He took up her offer.

They all say in the kitchen for a while, eating chocolate and talking. The small mess Claus made was cleaned up as well. As they talked, Kathi began to stutter less and become more confident. She was a person who had to be comfortable with the people she was surrounded by; her personality didn't show as well when she wasn't. Claus and Kathi got along well, and they even had the common interest of videogames.

Lucas and Kathi went back to work after their snack break. Claus went out to take Boney for a walk, which he often did on the weekends. They were nearly finished. They only had to add a few more touches to their mural poster. Murals are usually painted on walls, but of course, the teacher wouldn't be able to find enough walls for all of the classes to paint on. They instead painted a mural on a poster board.

The sun was close to going down when the two were washing the paintbrushes off and closing the lids on the paint while waiting for the mural to dry. Kathi was packing her stuff to leave also.

"So, I'll bring the project to school on Monday, alright? That way you don't have to carry it home."

"Thanks," Kathi replied while grabbing her pencil and tossing it in her bag, "I think I should get going. It's getting late."

"Okay, see you Monday!" Lucas called to her as she was heading toward the door.

"By—oW!" Kathi had opened the door and collided with Claus, who was returning from the walk with Boney.

"Crap! Sorry," Claus was rubbing his nose, which she had practically head-butted because of their height difference.

"O-oh! No p-problem! Sorry Claus! Gotta go! B-bye!" She rushed out of the door in chagrin.

~•~•~•~

Kathi had mixed feelings about her Saturday night. She wouldn't ever tell anyone this, but... She really liked Claus. Like-liked Claus. And she made herself look like a clumsy fool in front of him! On the bright side, she thought, at least she actually talked to him today.

"Baby steps," Kathi sighed and buried her face in her pillow.

**~•~•~•~**

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was published a lot later than I expected it to be. Sorry. Also, Kathi isn't my character. She's WendyTheSkyMaiden's OC. I wrote this chapter for them, since they were the first person to like anything I have posted on this website. If you like the character, she might appear some more. Thank you for reading!**


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